Ufology Research

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

Hit the road, Jack! Part 2

The Jackhead “UFO Crash”
story is much more interesting than first believed.

Oh, it’s still a hoax, but
it may now be easier to pinpoint who the hoaxer is. As well, new details have
emerged as to what happened on the night of February 18, 2015, near Jackhead
First Nations, and why there were military vehicles there.

As I mentioned in my
previous post, I have spoken a few times with officials on Jackhead First
Nation, who not only denied there was anything to the rumours about
evacuations, crashes and military crackdown, they even laughed at the silliness
of the story. Yesterday, I reached out to another logical source for
information: the military itself.

I had access to the news
release about the military exercise called Arctic Bison 2015, so the details of
what had been planned were well known. It was easy to see that a military
operation over and on the lake could generate some UFO stories, so that seemed
to explain the actual UFO sightings (or alleged UFO sightings, since no reports
have been filed by any witnesses; all we have are second-hand stories that some
lights and/or a craft was seen).

But what happened that
night turned out to be exactly the Search and Rescue mission the military was
training for!

The PR guy from the Air
Force replied to me in a very open and straightforward manner, giving many
details and providing links to photos of what transpired. (Of course,
conspiracy buffs will insist that this transparency is exactly what the
government would do as part of a disinformation scheme, but that’s for others
to debate elsewhere.)

Derek, the military PR
guy, wrote:

“I really appreciate you looking into this a little further and
looking for confirmed facts – as you can imagine, we’ve heard some pretty wild
things this past week.”

[Conspiracy buffs note: “The
military thanking a UFO researcher. Yeah, as if that would ever happen.”]

Immediately, Derek
answered a question that some UFO buffs were asking, namely, “What aircraft was
seen?” He replied:

“The aircraft involved in
the exercise was a Twin Otter from 440 Squadron - great plane for this terrain,
you can see it on the ice on our Flickr. I had a chance to fly in it and land
on the lake with the skis - very cool experience…”

And here’s the plane:

Yes, that’s right, we have
a photo of the plane. Because the military has a Flickr account. Why?

“I was out with a camera
team from Shaw on Thursday, which was the last day the Twin Otter was
participating (flew back to Yellowknife on Friday I believe). This is some of
the irony - we have nothing to hide, in fact we're trying to tell as many
Manitobans/Canadians as possible what we're up to! Thus the Flickr site, news
release, media visit...my job in general!”

He recognized the irony;
the military thought it was being as transparent as possible, and still,
hoaxers decided this was an opportunity to enflame conspiracy buffs about a
non-existent cover-up! (Shaw, BTW, is a TV network in Canada.)

Here's another photo from the military operation:

And yes, not only do they
have a Flickr account, they’re also on Facebook and they even invited a TV news
camera crew to be embedded during the training exercises. Not your usual
cover-up and lockdown technique.

Oh, and James Bezan (left), the local member of the Canadian Parliament and also Secretary to the Minister of Defence was also present when Arctic Bison 2015 was begun and briefed on the entire exercise:

So this was all planned long in advance of anything ever being reported from Jackhead. The news release went out on the 17th, the day before, but the environmental assessment had been conducted long before. (I can imagine trying to get someone from the Defence department out to inspect the troops takes some planning.)

However, what happened at
Jackhead? Well, it turns out that, as I had reasoned, the military operations
had nothing to do with the community onshore―until there was a snag.

I mentioned this was extreme
weather conditions, right? In fact, so extreme, the military’s own snowmobiles
broke down! (Good thing they were doing the exercise for practice!)

Derek explained:

“Some of
the confusion stemmed from the original route not passing through/by Jackhead.
We had not made contact with the community leaders there in advance. Once
snowmobiles stopped working due to extreme cold, we needed road access to get
them off the lake―this happened to be Jackhead. As soon as we knew we would
have trucks passing through Jackhead, I advised my boss to make contact with
the local leaders to let them know.”

So, as their news release
explains, they normally liaise with local communities they will be approaching,
but since they had not planned to go to Jackhead, they didn’t do that. Until
they were in serious trouble.

Hence, the military trucks
on the Jackhead road and entering the community. But they did ask when it happened, apparently, since it was an emergency.

And as for the stories of
photos and “evacuation”… Derek noted:

“As for
restricting access, telling people to stay away, or not to take photos―I would
be surprised if anything remotely like this happened. I did hear some of the
troops were nervous when they came across people taking photos, but only
because they thought they were being scouted to potentially have their gear
stolen.”

(Incidentally, that
actually has occurred in other situations!)

So, whether or not you
believe the military explanation, it does fill in many details and answer many
of the questions people have about the Jackhead incident. Witnesses may have
seen the plane take off and land, and that would explain the observations of
lights either ascending or descending. (Again, however, no one has actually
made a report to this effect.)

As for the stories of UFOs
over the lake and Jackhead on February 22, the last day of the military
exercise, I had thought that this could have been from the wrap-up of the
operations at Gimli, perhaps flying past Jackhead.

Derek noted:

“Feb 22nd was
somewhat the last day in the sense that everything was wrapped up and everyone
on the road back to their hometowns. The Arctic Response Company Group is made
up of Reservist soldiers from across Sask, Man, NW Ont. Everyone was back to
Winnipeg by last night (except maybe some last minute cleanup of the
headquarters in Gimli), so any activity on the lake last night would not have
been us. I am aware of search and rescue training done by the SAR squadrons in
the Lake Winnipeg area (I believe you mention this on your site), but not sure
about last night.”

So it wasn’t them, if
anything was seen at all.

Why am I doubting the
reports of UFO activity? Because the reports of UFOs seen may be themselves
hoaxes.

Derek pointed out:

“Finally,
one of the photos of the lake is blatantly photoshopped. I googled 'frozen lake
winnipeg' to show someone what pressure ridges look like, and lo and behold
there's one of the photos but without the foreign object on it.”

And sure enough, if you
compare the photo of broken ice on the lake with the accompanying “crashed UFO”
that has been circulating, with the photo taken by a nature photographer three
years ago, they match.

So, whomever uploaded the “UFO
crash” photo deliberately extended the hoax by photoshopping a "stepped pyramid" spacecraft into the original photo. Go ahead, take some time to play with the images and line them up. I'll wait.

And here's the "artists' conception" of the crashed spacecraft.

Okay, since some of the verbiage
regarding witnesses seeing UFOs and being evacuated and told not to say
anything, etc., was in accompaniment of the hoax UFO crash photo, I wonder if
any of it is true.

In summary: there was no UFO crash. There were military exercises. No one on Jackhead was carted off or anything for taking photos of a crash that didn't occur. It's all a series of fabrications.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

Hit the road, Jack...

It all started as a silly late-night gag, and has mushroomed
into a major ufological mystery.

Or so conspiracy
buffs would have you believe.

On
Wednesday night, February 18, 2015, at about 9:00 pm, a friend of mine named Maeengan
Linklater sent me a PM on Facebook:

Hey, I'm hearing stories on a ufo in Jackhead First
Nation with military trucks heading up there. Hear anything?

Maeengan is a great guy and a fine researcher. He’s also
knowledgable about all things Aboriginal and Indigenous, with connections to
many First Nations communities. So if he’s heard a story from one of them,
there’s something to it. He then added quickly:

However, I think this morning, the Canadian army was
going to be doing arctic exercises on Lake Winnipeg.

Ah, so that was it. We usually hear in advance if the Canadian
Armed Forces are doing Search&Rescue training, but not all the time. And
the west shore of Lake Winnipeg is exactly where these exercises are held. In
fact, we get UFO reports a few times a year when the planes drop flares (a la
Phoenix Lights) over the lake, giving a spectacular display.

I immediately
suspected this is what that night’s stories were about. Usually, however,
transports aren’t involved, because they’re air exercises. And Jackhead is a
bit north of where the training missions are usually held, near Gimli.

Then
Maeengan added:

And, people being asked to evacuate as well.

This wasn’t a regular Search&Rescue exercise. And why
would anyone need to be evacuated?

I checked the Canadian Forces website and found the
following:

Exercise ARCTIC BISON 2015, held February 13-22 along the
length of Lake Winnipeg, focuses on challenging training for the Arctic
Response Company Group in austere winter conditions.

Well, that explained it. Open and shut case. But it still
didn’t make sense that anyone would be evacuated.

Maeengan told me that the evacuation comment came from a
tweet from the First Nations community. I logged on to my Twitter account and
searched for “Jackhead.” Sure enough, up came several tweets, including a daytime
screen shot of several military transports on a road that looked like it could
be in that area.

Even though there was no actual witness or witness
report, the MUFON case file noted:

“according to locals was a crash with large military
presence and cordoned off to civilians.”

Other tweets said that the road to the reserve and town
had been blocked by military vehicles. My question at this point was, “Which
locals?” The only identified and named individuals from Jackhead who posted on
Twitter were those who said the whole thing was simply a military exercise and
that there was no “UFO crash.”

But the UFO media went nuts:

The badly-named UFOSFacts:

UFOSFACTS ‏@UfosFacts
Feb 19UFO Sighting in Jackhead, Manitoba on February 16th 2015
- according to locals was a crash with large… http://dlvr.it/8dcYdS #UFOS #OVNIS

The worst offender was the mostly-hoax UFO Youtube
channel ThirdPhaseOfMoon, which ran an audio interview of a “guy who knew a guy
in Jackhead” with an image from an unrelated UFO case, which many viewers
thought was what was seen at Jackhead:

The next day, after I had thought things had slowed down,
I awoke to find the story was going viral. I knew someone had to investigate
this story, and it obviously had to be me, since no one else seemed to want to
do so. Mainstream media took a look and found quickly it was the military
exercise, but I wanted to know who started the rumours, and what was actually
seen that led to the report of a UFO?

I easily found a number for the Band Office, and spoke
with a council member there. She laughed. She said that if everyone had been
evacuated, she wouldn’t have answered the phone. I asked her about the rumours
and she said that there was nothing to them at all.

I dutifully reported back on Twitter about what I had
learned.

Chris Rutkowski @ufologyresearch · Feb
19 No, there was no #UFO #crash in #Jackhead #Manitoba last
night, and no one was evacuated by the military. #hoax Sorry, no #Disclosure

But there was no way that facts were going to get in the way
of a good story. Rumours continued to circulate on Facebook, Twitter, Youtube
and UFO Media about the amazing UFO crash at Jackhead, which was variously
described as a town, a reserve and a military base.

Posters insisted that they knew people who had been
evacuated, who had been turned away at a military checkpoint, and who had
definitely seen UFOs. Many said they knew people from Jackhead First Nation who
had witnessed the crash and ensuing cover-up personally.

Of course, no one was talking about it firsthand.
Obviously, the conspirators explained, they had been hushed up. Taken away,
never to be heard from again.

I tried being the voice of reason again, the following
day, as the story continued its viral ascent.

Chris Rutkowski @ufologyresearch · Feb
20Good grief! That #ufo crash story at #jackhead is still
going! We looked into it and there's nothing to it, people! https://ca.news.yahoo.com/ufo-near-jackhead-actually-plane-224138620.html

The news coverage, in which the military explained about
the exercise, did nothing to stop the rumour mill. In fact, the comments on the
news stories show that almost no one believed the explanation.

Things got worse that night when ThirdPhaseOfMoon had a
phone-in podcast during which “eyewitnesses” from Manitoba called in to rave
about the UFO crash.

Blogger Seashoremary, who posts about conspiracies such
as vaccines, NWO and bible prophesy, documented the discussion.

Throughout the hour the incoming Canadian callers would
get disconnected. Interference was felt
by the radio host and his frustration over the situation.

The host was able, during the live broadcast, share
information that he had received emails from eye witnesses with texted cryptic
information:

“Your government needs you. Keep quiet” pointing a finger at them.“They told us we have one hour to evacuate.”“That’s all I’m allowed to say.”“Don’t send to anyone.” (implied text message)The eye witnesses have been intimidated and are now
afraid to speak out. People are unhappy
with the shut down and the military presence in their area.

In other words, nothing to substantiate any of the claims.

There were also some very fanciful Facebook posts by a
Brent Mancheese:

UFO crash reported on the Jackhead reserve in Manitoba,
Canada. Apparently the Canadian Military have vehicles lined up on north shore.
They are threatening anybody who tries to take pics…lots of eye witnesses. Thur
is round object being hauled across the lake being pulled by snow mobiles and
bombardier … Something was seen going down by 8 fishermen they reported it…why
would they not let the media know if it was a plane crash.

There’s also a question about photographs. The first ones
that were posted and reposted widely were the daytime shots of personnel
carriers. Then, someone posted a nighttime shot of vehicles on the ice.

And then a daytime shot with annotations has been
circulated, and posted on Disclose.tv:

Seashoremary noted:

The host mentioned he has received photographs that he
feels are legitimate but unable to download them onto a video pending consent
from the senders who are now not able to communicate outside their territory.

According to the radio host, one photo shows that it’s
not an airplane but has “definite structure” about half-size of a football
field 40′ – 50′. Another photo shows
people running to the scene, including military personnel on snowmobiles.

There's even an "artist's conception of the object on the lake:

One post on Disclose.tv showed exactly how far the conspiracy
buffs are taking this:

Freetruth • There is also short footage of disk in sky. They have
shut down the reservation, no in, no out, have cut off phone internet lines,
went door to door, asking if people saw anything, to help investigate, then
those who said they did have been detained. Early on stuff got out calls,
emails made. If this is nothing then we demand let ALL these people be free
safe & accounted for because whether military created or other worldly, the
point is this is abuse of citizens, harrass ment, threats, & unlawful detainment.
Further gagging freedom of speech or ability to call out for help. Gov mil say
simple mil excessive crash, fine & well then release pics images, be done
with it. Release ALL you have detained. Leaving them in full possession of
their property, phones, computers, cameras etc.. All data. These people did get
out to friends asking for help, can't understand why they are being threatened
detained etc... Some taken for further questioning.

Many posters on social media really had no idea of what
the facts of the case were at all. But the implications of their comments are
making things uncomfortable. ThirdPhaseOfMoon’s second podcast stirred things
up by stating that the residents on the reserve were mad that the military was
covering up such an event on their land.

One poster on February 22nd, three days after the story began going viral, asked:

Kris H ‏@HargoFettDid a Canadian Roswell just happen?http://www.cbc.ca/m/news/canada/manitoba/ufo-near-jackhead-it-s-actually-a-plane-says-military-1.2963994
…Why would military conduct exercise on Indian
reservation?

The Truth That Won’t Be Believed by Conspiracy Buffs and
UFO Fans

First of all, Jackhead is a name given to the Kinonjeoshtegon
First Nation on the western shore of Lake Winnipeg, about 300 kilometres due
north of the city of Winnipeg. It’s not a military base. In fact, there’s no
base anywhere near it.

Jackhead is quite remote, with only a single gravel road
leading in from Peguis First Nation and the town of Dallas (really!), about 60
kilometres south, and nothing in between. There are about 225 people who live on
Jackhead First Nation, and some fish for a living. There are few other
communities anywhere near there. During the winter, weather conditions make it
very challenging to travel around or about the lake.

Second, related to the first point about the isolation of
the site, the Canadian Forces chose Lake Winnipeg as the perfect place for
winter training exercises.

Exercise ARCTIC BISON 2015 (Ex AB 15) will be conducted
by 38 Canadian Brigade Group (38 CBG) from 13-22 February 2015 along the length
of Lake Winnipeg. Ex AB 15 will see
approximately 110 members of the Canadian Army travel by snowmobile from Gimli
to Grand Rapids, with approximately 40 members remaining in Gimli in the Land
Component Command (LCC) headquarters or in supporting roles. The exercise will focus on the achievement of
the Arctic Response Company Group (ARCG) Full Operating Capability criteria,
specifically focussing on the ability of the ARCG to force project and sustain
itself 300 km from its support base.

In other words, about 70 soldiers were traveling by snowmobile
from Gimli far to the south of Jackhead to Grand Rapids far to the north, and
because of the nature of the geography, they passed close to the western shore near
Jackhead as they travelled.

And what about the aircraft seen?

Ex AB 15 will provide realistic and challenging scenarios
in harsh environments to the ARCG to ensure readiness for events that may
arise. The exercise scenario will include response to a major air disaster,
support to Ground Search and Rescue, and public relations activities in some
communities along the shore of Lake Winnipeg.

So they staged a fake airplane crash to practice search
and rescue techniques under extreme winter conditions. And the object "dragged along the lake?" The military exercise included constructing an emergency landing strip on the ice, which would have required digging a smooth patch on the ice, and removing the show to a certain depth. That was what is on the surface of the lake in the photograph.

(But yes, they obviously failed in their “public relations
activities.” Because even though the Band Council and administrators knew about
the military exercise that could pass near the community, the residents
themselves were not told enough about what was going to be seen.)

Seashoremary’s transcription of the ThirdPhaseOfMoon’s
podcast included the few details what can be thought of as UFO sightings from
that night:

“I talked to one eye-witness seen something falling
1:30am Wednesday morning with bluish-green lights, he’s wondering what it was
he saw, another honest fisherman said they were told to leave the lake
Wednesday and not allowed to take pictures.”

It’s easy to understand these eyewitness descriptions
knowing what we know about the operation. The lights in the sky (if that’s
where they were seen) were aircraft. As for fishermen told to leave the lake,
it would have been dangerous to have civilians near a military operation and
were told to leave. As for photos? Well, it was a military operation.

All this is speculation based on the facts of the event.
We have not actually heard from first-hand witnesses from the community.

What about the rumours of people being taken from their
homes and cut off from the outside world? What we do know is that Internet
access out there can be spotty and dependent on phone lines. I was able to
reach people in the band office by phone, and it’s obvious that someone out
there is on Twitter and Facebook, so Internet access has not been cut off. Nor have posts been removed.

Another thing that should be pointed out is that the
military exercise started on February 13th, several days before the “UFO
crash.” If a saucer did crash on the night of the 18th, it’s odd
that the military would know about it before it happened, and also were in the
exact location where it would occur.

There are plenty of second-hand sources of information
about evacuation and saucers on the frozen lake, but apart from the fishermen,
no one has admitted seeing or experiencing any of the strange events.

This is what’s on MysteriousUniverse.org:

UFO crash reported on the Jackhead reserve in Manitoba,
Canada. Apparently the Canadian Military have vehicles lined up on north shore.
They are threatening anybody who tries to take pics…lots of eye witnesses. Thur
is round object being hauled across the lake being pulled by snow mobiles and
bombardier … Something was seen going down by 8 fishermen they reported it…why
would they not let the media know if it was a plane crash.

Apparently a disc shaped craft was seen crashing through
the ice on the lake, at least one person got photographic evidence but has
since been detained by the Canadian military.

Let’s look at this summary of the conspiracy line by
line.

UFO crash reported on the Jackhead reserve in Manitoba,
Canada.

FALSE. A simulated plane crash was on the lake itself,
significantly offshore.

Apparently the Canadian Military have vehicles lined up
on north shore.

FALSE. There would be supporting military vehicles near
the exercises, but this is the west shore.

They are threatening anybody who tries to take pics.

PARTLY TRUE. The military likely was discouraging
civilians to take photos.

Lots of eye witnesses

POSSIBLY TRUE. If this refers to the UFO seen, then yes. The
rumour says “eight fishermen,” though none have come forward officially. But
what else were people witnesses to?

There is [a] round object being hauled across the lake
being pulled by snow mobiles and bombardier.

PROBABLY TRUE. The military exercise involves a
300-kilometre trip across the frozen lake in -40F conditions. I sure hope they
have plenty of supplies.

Something was seen going down by 8 fishermen.

See above.

Why would they not let the media know if it was a plane
crash?

ANSWER: Because there was no real plane crash.

Apparently a disc shaped craft was seen crashing through
the ice on the lake.

UNSUBSTANTIATED. There is no report of such an event, and
no evidence to this effect. (I hope this did not refer to a military accident
involving personnel, but we would have heard of this by now through
conventional media if they had.)

At least one person got photographic evidence but has
since been detained by the Canadian military.

UNSUBSTANTIATED. Who? Wouldn’t anyone from the community
know who this was and object, perhaps going right to media? This would have
been something to tweet out for sure, that “John White was arrested by the military.”

So, despite the lack of evidence of the wild claims, the
story of the “UFO Crash in Jackhead” continues to go viral. Why did the story
get made up, anyway? I suspect because of the general distrust of the military
and the poor communication by the Canadian Forces public relations office about
is operation, the activity was viewed as suspicious by some people in the
remote community.

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

About those Blue Book UFO files... UPDATED

Ryan Mullahy‎ posted the
following in the Facebook group UFO UpDates:

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE
PROJECT BLUE BOOK FILES:

So the UFO researchers in
this group are really going to sit silently while "UFO researchers"
and "journalists" re-write UFO history for the sake of promoting a
website?The Truth About The
Project Blue Book Files:

-The Blue Book
files have been available to the public since 1976 or earlier in physical
archives.

-50,000 Project
Blue Book documents have been available on line at Archivist Rebecca Wise's
Project Blue Book Archive since January 2005.

Alejandro Rojas also
inaccurately claims in his article that users have to pay a fee to download
Project Blue Book Files from fold.3. This is untrue.A user only has to create
a free account on fold.3 in order to download Project Blue Books documents.
(Alejandro has since added a note to his article correcting himself about
downloading from fold.3.)At least Kevin Randle had
the guts to speak up.

Both Project Blue Book
Archive and fold.3 have been amazing resources to me as a researcher for years,
as they should be to any serious researcher, and I don't think Project Blue
Book Archive or fold.3 deserve to be misrepresented and to have their contribution
swept under the rug in a wave of misinformation like this.

It's great that there is
another online source for the Project Blue Book documents, and I have no issue
with the Black Vault, but this announcement shouldn't come at a cost of
misleading and untrue news stories and a quasi re-writing of UFO history for
the sake of a titillating news headline and the promotion of a website.

For the record, I have been answering many questions from media and UFO fans about this. Tempests and teapots come to mind.

Many people are pointing out: "But at least it gets everyone talking about UFOs, and in major media!"

Of course, that's the same argument about why Tweeting "disclosure" to politicians is a valid reason to do so.

Veritas lateat.

And.... on February 6, 2015, John Greenewald posted:

Yes, it's sad and very
telling that the company has to slander me in the process of explaining their
decision.What they are not
mentioning, conveniently, is I spoke directly with their attorney and told them
I never even downloaded it from their site, so the accusation of labeling me a
thief was unfounded. I asked for evidence, and she, of course, could produce
none.They also have not had
"scraping" as they call it in their Term of Service over the years...
though it is now... it is absent from other versions of their policy. So, since
they have produced no logs anyway of whomever downloaded it (with dates), who
knows when this information was compiled and whether it really was against
their terms of use policy of "scraping."They are leaving out the
fact that my archive had quite a bit that Fold3 did not, including documents
obtained under the FOIA that were obtained by me, and user submissions from
actual Blue Book witnesses who saw their cases on The Black Vault. They laid
claim to all of that.They also leave out the
fact that I offered to turn over my personal financial statements, and donate
to Ancestry.com the few dollars (literally, few dollars) that came in since
they accused me of "profiting". They declined when they realized the
money was not even in the 3 digits, and in fact, not even close.They also leave out that I
offered to give 100% (yes. 100%) of ALL commercial ad space to them to sell,
advertise ancestry.com properties, advertise their DNA kits, or whatever they
wanted -- and to keep 100% of the profits. They declined.They are also leaving out,
the fact their attorneys had full knowledge I was going to release a statement,
and as a courtesy to them, I asked for them to release the same, and I would be
more than happy to publish, next to mine, what they would like to say about the
issue, unedited. They declined.But, of course, I learn
they slander me because they are getting flooded with letters and phone calls.
The court of public opinion is all I need to know that this issue -- is a
ludicrous one -- and a waste of time and money for everyone.Plain and simple -- I'd
love evidence that *I* downloaded anything from them. They can never produce it
-- and the guy who did who I only know by a nickname -- could have (though I
don't know) downloaded the information well before the "scraping"
clause was in their terms of use policy. Since I asked Ancestry.com for
evidence and I was met with silence, my guess he did without breaking their
terms of use policy, did not "steal" anything and the information is
in the public domain which no one can lay claim to -- not even if you did scan
it as indicated by the NY Supreme Court ruling:
http://en.wikipedia.org/.../Bridgeman_Art_Library_v....It's a shame that this is
the type of corporation Ancestry.com is. Their recent show of this is quite
apparent in their statement about me personally -- especially since I
peacefully complied with their demands -- and their attack and label on my is
nothing short of saddening and pathetic.

Thursday, January 01, 2015

The myth of radioactive UFOs? Part 4: Condon et al.

The dubious nature of radioactivity claims regarding UFOs is nothing new. The information presented in this series of blog posts shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone.Over the years, there have been some red flags published regarding alleged UFO-related activity.One of the most relevant was in the infamous Condon Report, which most ufologists agree was a public relations exercise more than a scientific study of UFOs. Yet within it are actually some excellent resources and discussions about the analysis of UFO data and evidence. the ultimate conclusion of Condon may have been flawed, but the contents of the report itself are very significant.For example, in Chapter 3, on physical evidence, outspoken debunker Roy Craig noted:

The independent evidence most frequently claimed is
presence of unusual radioactivity at the site. In cases where such claims were
checked by our field teams, (32, 42) the claim was found to be untrue. In one
case (22), radioactive material was found to be present by Canadian
investigators and in other cases, (e. g. Fisherville, Va., 12-21-64) which
could no longer be checked, testimony by persons other than the UFO observer supported
a claim that the site was found to be radioactive. In such cases, however, if
radioactive material actually were present, the possibility that it was placed
there by humans cannot be ignored. If humans are known to have visited the site
before official confirmation of presence of radioactive material has been made,
and the material found is either a naturally occurring radioactive mineral or a
commercially available luminous paint, the presence of this material serves to
weaken any claim of strange origin of the markings.

The cases referred to by Craig were Case 32 (Snippy the horse mutilation) and Case 42 (Herb Schirmer CE3), where no radiation was ever detected. The other was Case 22, the Falcon Lake case, which Craig personally investigated and decided was a hoax.

Curiously, Craig also rejected the Fisherville case (http://www.ufocasebook.com/stauntonvirginia1964.html) even though it would have been supportive of radioactivity associated with a landed UFO. From the NICAP book UFOs: A New Look, published in 1969, the case involved an odd structed object that landed and left behind radiation that could be detected easily.

...a few days later, a local radio program
announced the formation of a UFO investigations group at Eastern Mennonite
College, under the direction of Dr. Ernest G. Gehman, a professor of German at
the college. At his wife's urging, [the witness] got in touch with Gehman by way of the
radio station to report his observation.

On December 31, Dr. Gehman traveled alone to the landing
site and made a geiger counter test of the area. An extremely high reading was
obtained, and was verified by the arrival of two DuPont research engineers who,
having heard about the landing, had driven to the site the same day Dr. Gehman
made his investigation.

In fact, Dr. Gehman had been able to locate the landing
spot (later verified by the witness) by the readings on his Geiger counter.

But Craig thought the radioactivity had likely been planted by someone, probably the witness.

Craig pointed out the major problem in studying landing traces:

The existence of an imprint of odd shape or a circular
area of crushed vegetation often can be established. Its mere existence does
not prove, however, that the marking was made by a strange being or vehicle.
Demonstration of a connection between such markings and strange objects has
thus far not been accomplished. Attempts to establish such connection must
still depend upon personal testimony. Generally, personal testimony includes
the reported sighting of an UFO in the area of the discovered imprints or nest.
Quite frequently, however, UFO origin of the markings is assumed, even though
no UFO was seen in the area near the time the markings must have been made.

The last sentence is obviously true of modern-day physical trace cases, such as crop circles.

But then he sums up the problem of scientific study of UFO-related physical traces quite nicely:

Generally there are no physical tests which can be
applied to a claimed saucer landing site to prove the origin of the imprints.

Yes, there it is. There is no way to prove scientifically that a UFO left behind a physical trace. So the value of field investigation is what, exactly?

The myth of radioactive UFOs? Part 3: The origin of the myth

In the first two parts of this discussion, I showed how none of the classic UFO cases said to have associated radioactivity have been established as such without dispute. Further, there are many cases in which observed effects of UFOs are assumed to have been caused by radiation, without any detection of this mechanism. Most UFO stories involving radiation are simply anecdotal, without any evidence or factual details to back up the claims.In the few cases where there were actual radiation measurements taken, the results are apparently in some doubt due to equipment failure or operator error.If this is all true, then why do many UFO buffs assume that UFOs are radioactive? It's common for UFO groups' field investigators to be versed in the use of Geiger counters, but why, if radioactivity is a non-issue?It may have all started with Ruppelt.In his classic seminal work The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects, published in 1956, Edward Ruppelt has a chapter titled The Radiation Story. http://www.nicap.org/rufo/rufo-15.htmIn it, he described how (as he called it) a "rumor" changed the direction of military saucer research in the USAF. He wrote:

In the fall of 1949, at some unspecified place in the
United States, a group of scientists had set up equipment to measure background
radiation, the small amount of harmless radiation that is always present in our
atmosphere. This natural radiation varies to a certain degree, but will never
increase by any appreciable amount unless there is a good reason.

According to the rumor, two of the scientists at the
unnamed place were watching the equipment one day when, for no apparent reason,
a sudden increase of radiation was indicated. The radiation remained high for a
few seconds, then dropped back to normal. The increase over normal was not
sufficient to be dangerous, but it definitely was unusual. All indications
pointed to equipment malfunction as the most probable explanation. A quick
check revealed no obvious trouble with the gear, and the two scientists were
about to start a more detailed check when a third member of the radiation crew
came rushing into the lab.

Before they could tell the newcomer about the unexplained
radiation they had just picked up, he blurted out a story of his own. He had
driven to a nearby town, and on his return trip, as he approached the research lab,
something in the sky suddenly caught his eye. High in the cloudless blue he saw
three silvery objects moving in a V formation. They appeared to be spherical in
shape, but he wasn't sure. The first fact that had hit him was that the objects
were traveling too fast to be conventional aircraft. He jammed on the brakes,
stopped his car, and shut off the engine. No sound. All he could hear was the
quiet whir of a generator in the research lab. In a few seconds the objects had
disappeared from sight.

After the first two scientists had briefed their excited
colleague on the unusual radiation they had detected, the three men asked each
other the $64 question: Was there any connection between the two incidents? Had
the UFO's caused the excessive radiation?

And that was how it started. The time of the radiation anomaly and the passing of the saucers were closely correlated. Ruppelt notes that it would have all ended there, except that he tracked down the witnesses and the scientists and learned more details. The result was that considerable time and money and personnel were commissioned to investigate the saucer/radiation correlation, even to the point of setting up observation posts. And in July of 1951, there was a simultaneous radar/visual observation of some saucers that was also coincidental with a bump in radioactivity.

And yet, even with the instrumented data collected by the military operation, the project was shelved because:

No one could explain the sudden bursts of radiation, but
there was no proof that they were associated with UFO's.

And that was it.

Support for Ruppelt's story can be found in the Blue Book archives. In the Maxwell AFB Blue Book files, MAXW-PBB1-738, there is a reference to an event at Mt. Palomar in October 1949, where a saucer was seen and radiation detected.

The incident was investigated thoroughly by the Navy and the conclusion was that it had just been a coincidence combined with equipment failure.

There are many more references to "radiation" and "radioactivity" in the Blue Book files, many pages of which detail Ruppelt's investigation of the reports.

And one page in particular may shed the most light, MAXW-PBB7-930:

It's important to remember that the original event occurred in 1949, only a few years after Hiroshima. And nuclear research was well underway at Los Alamos and other nearby military installations. The possibility that UFOs were nuclear powered military aircraft flown by other countries was considered very great.

In fact, in 1946, the USAF created the
Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA) project, which was replaced by the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program in
1951 but closed down in 1961. A nuclear powered aircraft was never successfully tested during the project run.

(It's interesting to note that this project was one of the first assignments for ufologist Stanton Friedman as he began his career as a nuclear physicist.)

So it would appear that the use of Geiger counters by military UFO investigators was more for the detection of Russian nuclear aircraft rather than anything extraterrestrial. And so, the continued use of Geiger counters by ufologists today may be irrelevant to the subject.

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

The myth of radioactive UFOs? Part 2: Classic cases

Okay, so a UFO case that has very well-documented
radiation effects may not be as mysterious as first thought. What about some of
the other classic cases with radiation effects?

CH argued:

Chris Rutkowski, there are many more cases. Residual
radiation is definitely a contender but the exhaust that blew out of the Falcon
Lake vehicle left behind interesting additional clues. I'm not labeling the
fuel/power source as Nuclear, merely pointing out evidence that there are
properties that seem to be similar.

But again, although the UFO effects were thought to be “radiation,”
there is no record of any measurement of radioactivity in the area.

Similarly, CC posted:

I've got plenty of questions myself! The 1957 Levelland
case and 1958 Loch Raven Dam case are both supposed to have had big glowing
ovoid UFOs that left the witnesses "sunburned." Unfortunately, we
have no medical records or photos, just the stories...

And I said:

Exactly. CH may be thinking of Bob Pratt's investigations
of injuries from UFOs in South America, but that's not what I was asking about.
I'm looking for cases where radioactivity was actually detected and measured,
not assumed because of physiological injuries.

Another poster, AS, suggested another classic case:

What of the radioactive "spots" left on the car
in the Hill case?

To which I replied:

Those were never established as radioactive. In fact, the
spots were initially thought to be magnetic anomalies because a compass needle
deflected near them, but this was never properly documented, and even then the
needle only did when Betty was holding the compass, not Barney.

SML noted:

An interesting exercise Chris. Sadly, so little
instrumented research seems to occur in most cases. Certainly the vast mass of
cases are mostly of an anecdotal nature… Of course I immediately think of the
ground / vegetation effects in the Delphos case but again, I don't know for
sure that there was actually any radiation detected by instrumentation.

The mention of Delphos again raised the issue of an
assumed radioactive component, even though the ring found there itself may be
adequately explained as bioluminescence, not radioactivity.

Poster RH, a longtime UFO investigator, noted:

[Radiation] was found and measured in a case I
investigated in the early 70s. I believe many others like Socorro had this.

I have no idea what case he investigated, but Socorro is
another classic that was rumoured to have radioactivity, but did not. James McDonald’s
interview with Mary Mayes, the biologist who studied plant samples from
Socorro, stated that there was “no evidence of radiation.”

According to the manufacturers of the instrument that was
used to take radiation readings in Rendlesham Forest in December 1980, the
measurements were “of little or no significance”. From the evidence of the
real-time tape recording made during the investigation, it is shown that the
readings are simply background levels and do not support the claim that
anything unusual happened in Rendlesham Forest. Onsite checks made within a few
years of the incident revealed no unusual radiation at the site.

Next, a poster suggested the case of D.S. “Sonny”
DesVergers, known as the Florida Scoutmaster Case of August 19, 1952. (http://www.nicap.org/scoutmas.htm)
But although the site was checked for radioactivity, none was found. And
besides, it’s almost universally agreed that it was a hoax.

GC then asked me about some local Manitoba cases that
were said to have involved radioactivity:

Chris Rutkowski: Are you saying the CKY film landing
site readings at the Roth farm were wrong?

And I said:

Not necessarily wrong, but perhaps inaccurate. I know
that the readings taken by Ernst Speelman at that and the Halbstadt site were
often questioned because they seemed to vary across the sites and were greatly
dependent on the counter being in direct sunlight, and battery usage, and other
factors. On at least one occasion, I saw the counter give a high reading one
minute and then drop to nothing the next. It had been suggested to me that the
counter itself might have been "wonky."

In fact, I dug out my original report on the Carman, Manitoba,
case, from May 13, 1975. It was a remarkable multi-witness, multi-site realtime
investigation when a film of a bright flying object low over the fields was
recorded as well as eyewitness observations. Here’s the relevant discussion
about radiation:

The witness led investigators to the area where he
believed the object had been at that point. After checking their bearings, the
investigators took background readings with a radiation survey meter. The
levels were negligible; basically background levels only. They then proceeded towards
the suggested “landing site” and took readings every 100 yards. The average
reading in the field was 20 mR. After
continuing on, they claimed to have found “a series of hot spots about 85 yards
apart, each with a radius of approximately 25 feet.” Center readings were said
to be 38-40 mR, falling off to about 25 mR at the edges. Soil samples were not
taken. However, these readings are highly suspect. The team also found that
passing a hand “between the suspected area and the instrument lowered the
reading somewhat,” even though the meter was supposedly set to measure gamma
rays, which are very penetrating. The same device had been shown to malfunction
on other occasions.

The Halbstadt case of July 2, 1975, involved a similar “landing
site,” although there had not been any associated UFO observed. Radiation
readings were taken with the same meter, and it had found some varying levels
there, too. (It’s interesting that a published account of the case quoted
investigators as saying that not only were high radioactivity levels detected,
but that there was some hazard to the public in the area because of the
radioactivity.)

But I would argue that these cases all fall under the “disputed”
category.

A few posters then got to the heart of the matter by
stating:

[SJ] I think the idea that flying saucers were radioactive
is simply a product of the times just like the saucers themselves. The times
being the 1950s. Atomic energy was mysterious and brand new so speculating that
saucers were man-made atomic powered craft or even ET atomic powered craft
seems like the most obvious avenue.

And

[CC] Exactly, and the Chiles-Whitted sighting was what
prompted the speculation of an ET atomic powered craft. It couldn't be our
technology, so it must be from out there... unless the witnesses were fooled by
a bolide.

And then Cash-Landrum was brought up. The assumption among
most UFO buffs and believers is that Betty Cash and Vicki Landrum were burned
by radiation.

Poster CC quickly countered the claim of radiation
poisoning with the facts of the case, available at the detailed website devoted
to the case: http://blueblurrylines.com

One relevant detail from the site:

Department chief Russ Meyer spent a whole day… scouring a
10-mile stretch of open highway between Huffman and New Caney. “Our major
purpose was to verify the presence of radioactive trace effects, but we found
no evidence of that. The only conclusion we could draw was that there was no
residual radioactive material in the area at the time.”

And finally, AC stated:

We have found radiation at several spots near Point
Pleasant, WV, where UFOs and Mothman were seen. They are still hot today.

But no details on these have been presented.

So, having gone through the classic UFO cases that have
been thought to involve radioactivity, and found them lacking solid evidence,
where does that leave us?